


tomorrow there'll be more of us (they'll tell the story of tonight)

by youareiron_andyouarestrong



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Found Families, Friendship, Gen, Superhero Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-09
Updated: 2016-07-09
Packaged: 2018-07-22 14:36:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7442866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youareiron_andyouarestrong/pseuds/youareiron_andyouarestrong
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kara finally makes it to Barry's Earth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	tomorrow there'll be more of us (they'll tell the story of tonight)

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Kindred](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6464893) by [trufflemores](https://archiveofourown.org/users/trufflemores/pseuds/trufflemores). 



Kara _loves_ Barry’s Earth.

“This is the _best burger_ I’ve ever had,” she says fervently, already on her third Big Belly. “How is it so good?”

“The secret ingredients are grease and salt,” Barry says, also on his—well actually, Kara doesn’t even know how many he’s eaten in the amount of the time they’ve been here. Wrappers litter the ground around them. She licks ketchup and mustard off her fingers. “Where else can we go?”

Barry sweeps up their mess in a blur. “How do you feel about tacos?”

“I love them.”

* * *

So, dimension/reality jumping _wasn’t_ on Kara’s to-do list for this Monday, but it’s okay. She can be flexible.

Honestly, she’s not sure how she ended up here, although Barry assures her they can get her back to her Earth. One second she was at the DMO as they took apart new (or is it old?) Krypton technology and the next, there was light and sound and a _rush_ and the next she was standing in an unfamiliar lab with a ring of astonished faces peering back at her and one face she _recognized_ —

“Kara!” Barry yells and springs at her joyously. “You’re here!”

Immediate concerns aside, Kara shrieks back, “Barry!” and lets him throw his arms around her in an enormous bear hug. She returns it with _almost_ all her strength, practically lifting Barry off the ground in the process.

“Um…” says a cute, short Hispanic guy behind them, looking pleased but also very bewildered, “not that this isn’t, you know, heartwarming and adorable, but, uh, Barry? Who is this?”

Kara lets go of Barry, lowering him carefully onto the ground. “I’m Kara Danvers,” she says cheerfully. “Or Kara Zor-El. I’m Supergirl.”

There’s a beat of astonished silence and then a very pretty black girl says, “The _who_ the _what_ now?”

“She’s an alien from another Earth,” offers Barry helpfully. “Also a superhero! Like me! I met her when we were trying out the tachyon clip.”

“You were gone for all of five seconds!” says another girl in disbelief, she’s about Kara’s age, immaculately dressed and long auburn hair in effortless waves over her shoulders, Kara is _jealous._ The short Hispanic guy squeaks out, “ _Alien?_ ” like he’s not sure whether to start screaming or laughing hysterically and the pretty black girl demands, “ _Superhero?”_

Instead of wasting time on explanations, Kara does what Barry did when she met him—provides a demonstration.

She lets herself float off the ground, over their heads, as mouths drop and the short Hispanic guy gives in and starts giggling like a lunatic. Barry is grinning so hard his face might be permanently fixed like that. “I have super-strength too,” Kara says as she lands back on the floor.  “And um, laser eyes. And I’m bulletproof.”

“Don’t forget the ice breath,” Barry reminds her.

“Yeah, that too,” Kara says.

“This is a lot to take in on a Monday,” says the giggling hysterically guy. “And with no coffee.”

Both girls come to stand besides each other, exchanging _what the hell?_ looks Kara knows all too well so she moves hastily assure them, “Barry ended up on _my_ Earth on accident, and he really helped me out. So I guess—I ended up here? To return the favor? I _think?_ I mean—” she turns to Barry, “How _did_ I get here?”

“We were trying out different frequencies and vibrations to see about other Earths,” Barry says and it devolves into a much more technical explanation that flies over Kara’s head (heh, _flies_ ) but the main point is, there was a breach, she went through it and now she’s here, on Barry’s Earth.  And strangely, the thought is not as terrifying as it once might’ve been.

* * *

Introductions are made—Cisco Ramon, Caitlin Snow, Iris West—and Kara can’t stop looking at Barry and _smiling._ Because honestly, this is all weird and unnerving and strange and she doesn’t know how she’ll get home, but she looks at Barry and is _calm_. She knows he’ll help. Barry keeps grinning back at her too, wide and delighted and brilliant.

Caitlin Snow, on the other hand, keeps looking at Kara like she expects her to do…something, Kara’s not sure what, but it could be something involving tentacles or a third eye.

“So you…can fly,” Caitlin starts uncertainly, “and you’re…bulletproof?”

Kara nods, swinging her legs. Caitlin introduced herself as Barry’s personal physician, and wanted to do some tests on Kara, to make sure she wasn’t ill-effected by traveling by breach. She handles Kara politely, but gingerly, as if she’s afraid she might get burned.

She explains, “Your sun affects my physiology differently, that’s why I can do all these things. My cousin, he and I—we’re the last of our house. The last of our kind, really. Our planet was destroyed years ago and we came here, you know, as the last survivors of Krypton.”

“I’m sorry,” Caitlin says softly, carefully sweeping away medical debris. “You and your cousin—”

 “I was sent here to look after him, to protect him,” Kara says, a little sadly. It’s an old ache that she hadn’t been able to do the job she was sent to do, but she’s glad that Kal-El had been given such good care by the Kents. “But my pod—what I escaped in, was knocked off course. By the time I got here, he was a grown man and he—didn’t need me.”  She shrugs slightly, hearing the monitors beep. “But he made sure a good family adopted me, took care of me. The two of live in two separate cities now, and he—he trusts me to be where he can’t.”

Caitlin nods and Iris West, the very pretty African-American girl who watches Kara with the thoughtful, analyzing stare of a reporter (Kara recognizes this look, she’s seen it on Cat Grant’s face enough times), says carefully, “Barry—didn’t mention you, when he came back from trying out the tachyon clip. But for us, he was only gone for a few minutes.”

“He was on my Earth for almost a full day,” says Kara. “A metahuman with a grudge attacked me and I fell out of a window and Barry—Barry caught me.”

“He would,” Iris murmurs, still studying Kara. “And he helped you.”

“He did,” Kara says, remembering a race, the words, _I’m the fastest man alive_ and _this is going to sound ironic coming from me, but…you need to slow down._

Barry comes in after Caitlin more or less finishes her tests on Kara, practically bouncing with excitement and Kara finds herself responding in kind, it’s impossible _not_ to around Barry.

“I gotta show you around,” Barry says gleefully. “You need to try Big Belly Burger and the tacos on Bruckner. And Joe, you have to meet Joe! He will have a heart attack and it will be _amazing_ and you should meet my dad Henry—”

“Barry,” says Caitlin, maybe a little sharply. Something about her makes Kara think of Cat Grant (similarities in the name aside), the armor of a nice dress and heels, the perfect posture and protectiveness (Kara hadn’t missed how her first move when she arrived had been to step besides Cisco, shielding him, just in case). “Barry, you can’t just take an _alien_ around Central City—”

“I’m a _nice_ alien,” Kara says earnestly. “Honestly! I could help Barry patrol—”

“Yeah! Or you know, just let me get her something to eat, I was _starving_ when I showed up on her Earth, she’s gotta be hungry, you’re hungry right?” Barry asks, turning to Kara. “You have to have hungry.”

“Starving,” says Kara frankly.

“See? She’s starving!” Barry exclaims, appealing to Caitlin. “She’s gotta eat at _least_ ten thousand calories a day, like I do. You don’t want the first alien you’ve met to _starve_ do you?”

Caitlin gives Iris a desperate look and Iris says carefully, “I think what Caitlin is _trying_ to say is that maybe Kara should wait to head out until we _know_ she has a way back—”

“We can head back the minute anything happens,” Barry says.

“I’ve got super-speed too!” Kara says eagerly. “I mean, we could be back in _seconds._ ”

“Does this mean she’s faster than Barry?” asks Cisco.

“I think maybe it’s a tie,” says Kara diplomatically. “I _did_ help him get home by having a race.”  

“Guys come on,” says Barry. “I literally could not be safer with anyone else. Nothing’s gonna happen!”

Cisco gave Barry a bit of a look. “There are certain sentences you should just stay _away_ from.”

Iris take a deep breath and gives Barry a rather— _stern_ look, sort of reminiscent of James actually, now that Kara thinks about it, when he thinks Kara is trying too hard to prove a point she doesn’t have to prove. “You _promise_ to stay out of trouble?”

Barry’s brilliant grin at Iris softens into something gentler, but no less luminescent. “I promise.”

 _Oh,_ Kara thinks. _Well._

* * *

They really do _try_ to stay out of trouble. But Kara can’t help that she has super-hearing too, and okay, it’s a _really easy_ thing to casually stop a robbery, or help out with that car wreck on the bridge. They’re subtle! Honestly. No one notices them. She’s pretty sure.

Worries about getting home aside, Kara really is happy to see Barry again. This Earth isn’t that different from her own—they have a National City, but no Cat Grant, which makes Kara a little sad (strangely enough, they _do_ have Smallville, Kansas. It gives her some kind of comfort).  Barry keeps his promise and takes her to all his favorite holes-in-the-wall and food trucks, and to Big Belly Burger. They sprint through the streets in impromptu races, flares of red and gold.  People’s hats and hair fly up with gusts of wind.

They finally take a break at the rooftop of what Barry says is the best coffee shop in the city, Jitters.  With a pile of food between them, they talk and catch up and let their legs dangle over the ledge of the roof.  

“I like your friends,” Kara says, finishing off her milkshake. “They seem like good people.”

“The best,” Barry confirms, helping himself to some her fries. She lets him. “I know you’re probably anxious to get back home, but I hope you can stick around long enough to get to know them.”

Kara thinks of Barry and Winn, geeking out over science together and smiles. “I’d like that.” And, because she’s incapable of _not_ sticking her nose into things (she can’t entirely help it), she asks with as much slyness as she can muster, “Sooo…you and Iris are…?” she trails off significantly.

“Friends,” Barry says instantly. “I mean—we’ve always been friends. We’re still friends. We’re…we’re _best_ friends, I mean—” He looks at her somewhat helplessly.

“You’re _very good friends,_ ” Kara agrees innocently.

“I’ve been in love with her since I was a kid,” he admits somewhat ruefully. “I tried dating someone else—two someone’s actually—and it didn’t work out. Not just because of the Flash thing, but because—”

“They weren’t her,” Kara guesses. He makes a wry, acknowledging face and then glances at her questioningly.  

“Did you and James ever—”

“Not really. It didn’t—it hasn’t really happened yet,” Kara says softly and Barry reaches out and wraps his arm around her shoulders. Kara leans into him with a sigh, letting her head rest on his shoulder. It feels easy and natural; the brother Kal-El— _Clark_ —might’ve been, if she’d gotten here sooner.

“I hate it when that happens,” says Barry and Kara knows he understands.

* * *

Henry Allen has Barry’s smile and crinkled at the corner eyes, and something of Barry’s wonder at the _impossible,_ though in him it’s tempered with caution.

“My son says you’re an alien,” he says in a cabin in the woods, away from Central City, quiet country air around them.

“A nice one,” she assures him, shaking his hand. “I’m Kara.”

“It’s nice to meet you Kara,” says Henry Allen.

Watching them, Kara can see where Barry got his patience, his kindness, something of his resilience. Henry asks Kara questions about her Earth, the differences in small or great ways, asks about growing up with her adopted family. Barry makes coffee for them and tries to deflect when Henry starts to brag— _just a little—_ about the superhero his son is. Kara laughs and tells ridiculous stories of being not only Kara Danvers but also _Kara Zor-El,_ Supergirl and finds herself wondering, just for a moment, what it would be like to tell her own father these things.

It could’ve been a little like this.

* * *

Joe West takes it remarkably in stride that Kara is an alien from another Earth who is _also_ a superhero; his main concern is that she’s not about to cause havoc in his city. “We already got a walking, talking giant shark,” he complains to Barry, after meeting Kara. “We don’t need any _more_ trouble.”

“I don’t do sharks,” Kara says faintly, trying not to imagine what _walking, talking,_ much less _giant_ looks like.

“We set him free in the ocean,” Barry says, trying to reassure her.

“Oh, _good_ ,” Kara replies and Barry squeezes her arm comfortingly.  “Remind me not to go swimming.”

Joe West eyes Kara for a long moment, the look purely skeptical and speculative. Kara reflexively tries to appear appropriately harmless and benign. “Barry says you’re—a superhero. Like him.”

“Supergirl,” Kara supplies. “Barry came to my Earth on accident; he helped me deal with some bad guys—”

“Girls,” Barry interjects and Kara corrects herself, “ _Girls_ over there. I helped him get home.”

“And Barry—can help _you_ get home?” Joe asks dubiously.

“We think so,” Barry says. “But—we’re not in a _huge_ hurry, right?” he asks Kara. “I mean, I want show you around some more. I mean, while you’re here.”

Kara thinks of her Earth, thinks of Winn and Alex and James and even Cat Grant, thinks of the cousin she knows and doesn’t know. Thinks of battles fought, lost and won, and looks at Barry’s face, and says, “Not in a _huge_ hurry.”

* * *

But time, even for Kara, even for Barry, passes. Cisco lets them know that the breach has reopened, and they can get Kara home.

Before they do, though—

Kara wraps her arms around Cisco and says, “Ready?”

He hugs her back and says with utter fervency, “ _Born_ ready.”

Kara laughs and lifts off, their feet leaving the ground. Cisco whoops in utter joy. She takes him over Central City, through the clouds, wind and moisture clinging to their faces. Cisco is yelling, “This! Is! _AWESOME!”_

They touch back down in STAR Labs, Cisco wobbling slightly and clutching at Kara’s shoulders until he regains his balance. “You can come back to this Earth any time you _want_ ,” he tells her and she laughs, steadying him.

“I’ll do my best,” she says and soon, too soon, she’s standing before the breach, all of it pulsing and turning on its own.

Barry hugs her fiercely and Kara presses her face into his shoulder, just for a moment. It’s like hugging a bolt of lightning, but the lightning is kept leashed beneath long arms and a joyful grin. “See you?” she asks, her voice muffled by his shirt.

“See you,” he promises her softly.

He is the brother she never had and it shocks Kara how much it hurts to leave him.

Kara lets go and turns to the breach and takes a deep breath, and then another. She springs through.

* * *

Years come and go, time passes, because not even the Speed Force can keep it at bay. But breaches open and close between Earths and when they can, if they can, Kara meets Barry wherever he is—and makes sure to bring donuts. He always brings tacos or Big Belly Burgers.


End file.
